We at Milea have been producing cosmetic products for over seven years now and we
have been using natural bees wax as a major ingredient in various
natural and organic products. We source our bees wax
requirements around the country.

What we knew then was that,
when honey hunters are done with honey harvest, they normally throw away
the comb/wax and so by buying the same and putting it to good use, we
were able to increase their earnings. However, in one of our visits to
the source of our bees wax, it came to our attention that some honey
hunters of our Native Honey Bees (Apis cerana) and Asian Giant Honey Bees (Apis dorsata)
still practice traditional harvesting methods. Honey is harvested in a
non-sustainable way, on a one-cut-take-all basis, where the entire comb
is cut off, the honey is squeezed out and the larvae are sold to be
cooked and consumed. The bees risk being exposed, leave the area or
worst, die.

Furthermore, we learned that our Native Stingless
Bees (Trigona spp.) are being torched-to-death upon sight in some areas.
This species of bees have been an unrewarded but valuable pollination
aid to our farmers ever since and yet its colony's defense mechanism
have been misunderstood – resulting to their colonies’ termination.

With
these in mind, we tried to dig dipper and searched for valuable
beekeeping practices that we can share to our local honey hunters. We
did lots of research and attended proper trainings, here and abroad, in
the hope of providing new beekeeping technologies and honey harvesting
practices that would promote sustainability of our local honey bee
species, increase crop production, and develop an alternative livelihood for our farmers.We
aim to put a message across that pollination is the primary purpose of
beekeeping and that honey harvest a plus. We teach farmers (and the public) updated beekeeping
practice: from hunting, management, hygienic harvesting, and post
harvest. Participants are made to understand the importance of
honeybees, its role in ecology to help in pollinating plants, and the
health benefits that honey and other hive products provide. Interested parties are
given lectures on basic bee biology, and methods of attracting honeybees
to their desired location using queen cages, swarm traps, and other
pertinent beekeeping methods where farmers need not spend so much to
have their own pollinators.

Everything in the program is
designed simply so it can be replicated in other areas mainly to update
traditional honey hunters/beekeepers/farmers on the proper beekeeping
practice and to increase crop production.

We maintain a biodiversity friendly environment for our practice of Apiculture and Meliponiculture (propagation of Honey Bees and Native Stingless Bees). It is our wish to continually cultivate the enthusiasm of our local
farmers to nurture their own bee colonies that may pave the way towards
natural or organic agriculture. After all, our modest goal is to promote sustainable agriculture to nurture people by working with nature.

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